I don't feel like cleaning my garage so I am going to do this sort of detailed. lol If you know a lot of this don't take it the wrong way just trying to be thorough. I had a hard time with cloning. I am frigging great at it now.
First off, make sure your Mom is fully hydrated and as healthy as can be, this is critical to cloning success. I have cloned stressed moms and they turn out fine but usually require some babying to get the clones to root and revive.
I mix one teaspoon of root and nute (nute not necessary but if I have it I use it) per liter of water, I usually make a half gallon...I do bubble it for about an hour. I think it helps bring them out of stasis, but this is not going to hurt you. Okay, soak your rooters for about fifteen minutes. I stay clean clean clean. I always have a bleach mixture on hand and I spray on my hands and forearms, wash hands in warn soapy water first, wipe on or spray bleach on hands, cutting tools, surfaces you will be using etc.....
I use a 50 space cloner tray, like the kind you can buy the rapid rooters already in, I only put in 25 per tray, I keep one space in between each rooter. So one row will have three, next one two...etc.
I cut my clones a little long but with a healthy mom this is also not a deal breaker. I don't split the cut, I use sharp trimmers, cut my clone, trim off all but top two SETS of leaves. This used to confuse me when I read this in books. Here is the science.... When you clone you immediately put the cut into emergency survival mode. It only wants to root, and only needs minimal light, high humidity and enough sugar to do rooting. It gets the sugars by using chlorophyll in the leaves and converts it to sugar and uses stored sugars, the top two sets of leaves will supply this. So keeping a bunch of leaves on actually stresses it as it has to also try and keep those leaves healthy while it's rooting. The two sets of leaves will be the growing tip plus the first two nodes under it. If you are confused about this message me. You should only have the growing tip and two fan leaves opposite each other directly under the growing tip. Again this will not make or break your cloning attempt but it just has helped me to keep all my cuts uniform. I have virtually no yellowing of leaves doing it this way.
So I take my cut using sharp trimmers, I cut the nodes of up to the last two sets as I previously explained. I leave at least an 1/8 inch of stub off every node just like when pruning a tree. This reduces the area contaminants can enter through. Now you can do each cut individually, I do, or you can do a bunch, or all your cuts, put them in a Solo cup with some of the bennie mixture (preferably) that you made or tap water. I use RO personally, again this is just preference. One other thing, I replaced my t5's in my cloning cabinet with old school t12's, cool white tube fixture. Much more gentle on clones. I don't care what people say, I get healthier clones with these lights or if all you have is a T5 or CFL make the light indirect if you can or raise it at least a good 12" away from clones. Just my opinion.
Okay, take your cut and have gel ready (or whatever you prefer) I can tell you that I feel
Clonex gel is the best. It has a ideal IBA percentage. 3000 ppm. First, I use an exacto knife with a new blade or a scalpel, trim the last two nodes of even with the stem and also cut the end of the stem at 45 degrees. I immediately dip it in the gel, hold it over the rooter hole and let one or two drops of gel go into rooter, redip clone and stick that mother in there. I then take tweezers and push about three pieces of Rapid Rooter down into hole. After filling tray up, I immediately cover with a dome with vents in top, you know the taller Mondi domes, about $6 apiece, and I keep the vents closed for three days. I take it off about two to three times a day for fresh air but the clones require hardly any air, humidity is way more important. I open the vents up on the third day and let it go for about 3 more days before I even check for roots. Don't keep pulling the rooters in and out, like I used to, it's a bad habit and when they do root you will break roots almost everytime you take one out and put back in.
Okay hope that wasn't too detailed.
